Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Louise Chen says she left meetings with Nabriva Therapeutics management even more convinced that the market opportunity for lefamulin is underappreciated. Nabriva Therapeutics shares have been weak since the company announced positive data from its second Phase 3 study, Chen tells investors in a research note titled "NBRV Hard to Resist At Its Current Valuation." She sees no fundamental reason for the weakness and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares with a $16 price target.

BofA/Merrill analyst Jason Gerberry lowered his price target on Nabriva Therapeutics to $5, citing his lower expected probability of success of 60% vs. 75% prior in its recently acquired CONTEPO for complicated urinary tract infection. The analyst says the program's main risk is an "imbalance of liver enzyme elevation while a slightly higher dose reduces read -through from about a 45-year post-market EU safety". Gerberry now believes that CONTEPO is a "niche opportunity", and lowers his peak sales view to $50M from $80M prior. The analyst also keeps his Buy rating on Nabriva on valuation as well as the opportunity for its two FDA action dates for lefamulin and CONTEPO in the second half of 2019.

09/07/18

MSCO

09/07/18INITIATIONTarget $8MSCOOverweight

Nabriva Therapeutics resumed with an Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley analyst David Lebowitz resumed coverage of Nabriva Therapeutics with an Overweight rating and a $8 price target, stating that its "first-in-class" antibiotics lefamulin and Contepo both have approvable Phase 3 data. He believes at current levels Nabriva shares are pricing in a "worst case scenario" for both antibiotics, but he sees it as likely that Nabriva exceeds the low expectations. Lebowitz forecasts risk-adjusted 2025 sales for lefamulin and Contepo of $228M and $33M, respectively.

Morningstar last night reported Q4 earnings per share of 99c, up from 91c a year ago, on revenue of $262.7M, up 8.1% from last year. "Morningstar reached a significant milestone in 2018, surpassing $1 billion in revenue for the first time," said Kunal Kapoor, Morningstar's CEO in the earnings statement. "This achievement resulted from putting investors first and providing exceptional experiences that support better investor outcomes. While the late 2018 downturn in global markets impacted net flows and asset growth in Morningstar Managed Portfolios, we experienced record flows into the ETFs built on Morningstar Indexes." Morningstar said market volatility negatively impacted net flows into Morningstar Managed Portfolios and impacted overall assets in Morningstar Investment Management and Workplace Solutions, particularly in Q4. Assets under management and advisement in Managed Portfolios increased by $1.2B in 2018 and were relatively flat year over year in Workplace Solutions. Morningstar.com premium subscriptions did not meet the company's expectations for growth in 2018, the company admitted. "We recently refreshed the Morningstar.com website and plan additional improvements in 2019," it noted. Shares of Morningstar are down 2%, or $2.62, to $124.60 in early trading.

Terex (TEX) delaying its earnings release led to considerable speculation on possible acquisitions, Baird analyst Mircea Dobre told investors earlier in research note. The analyst believes Astec Industries' (ASTE) "unique circumstances" and "apparent strategic fit" within the Terex portfolio "are worth contemplating." Astec would add asphalt plants, with leading market share in North America, as well a mobile pavers to Terex's Materials Processing segment, Dobre points out. Further, the addition of Astec could give Terex room to potentially altogether divest Crane down the line, with the proceeds used to reduce the leverage resulted from the acquisition, the analyst adds. Regarding the "unique circumstances," Dobre notes Astec's s CEO Ben Brock resigned on January 22, its shareholders have been pushing for improved performance, and that the activist investor on Terex's board was an Astec shareholder. Should Terex pay a multiple for Astec in-line with historical median transaction valuations in the space, it would imply a 27% premium to Astec's current price or $50 per share, according to Dobre. Shares of Astec are up 44c to $39.89 in early trading while Terex is down 3c to $35.54.